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Mk jolted awake after hearing an ear splitting screech further away from his bedroom. Flailing his arms, he attempted to scramble out of bed, only to get one of them stuck in the holes of his hammock, flipping it around and having Mk land flat on his face. The kid groaned in pain and took a moment on the ground with a shaky breath, trying to drown out the sharp pain in his ears and the heartbeat in his chest. Too loud, he thinks, wiping a tired hand down his face. Everything is too intense with four ears, not even just the sounds. The various smells on the mountain of grass and peach, to every touch and brush of a leaf or the wind was capable of making his fur stand up on end.
He managed to get his arm out of his hammock when he flipped over but now his foot was stuck, dangling over the ground in an uncomfortable position. Mk kicked his foot out of the hammock and turned over on his back, blood pounding in his ears. He closed his eyes with a shudder attempting to slow his breathing. What was that? Was someone in trouble? The boy couldn't even think about moving right now, just being on the floor trying to swallow the lump of fear in his throat, still dazed from when he fell out of bed.
A couple minutes had passed now in silence, with Mk still on the floor, until the sound of scratching was heard from outside. Mk’s ears fluttered at the sound and with another groan he rubbed his eyes, willing his body to get up. He pointed his ears to the direction of the sound and found that it was coming from the front door. Mk stood up from the ground and aggressively pulled his blanket off his bed, draping it over his shoulders before walking over to the source of the noise.
He had barely opened the door a crack before a swarm of baby monkeys barged in, almost sweeping him off his feet, taking up all the room on Mk's hammock to snuggle together in a large cuddle pile. Mk watched, with his eyes still drooping from sleep, as the last of the babies scampered inside. He closed the door with a loud yawn, and took a look at his bedroom. The baby monkeys who didn't get in on the hammock cuddle pile were scattered amongst the floor in their own tiny piles. Making sure not to disturb their cuddle time by stepping on any tails, Mk tiptoed to the center of his room.
“Did you all hear that too?” he had said in a whisper. The room then filled with loud squeaky chitters from the baby monkeys, causing MK to wave his hands vigorously for them to stop, covering his ears tightly. A couple of the baby monkeys looked at him in concern, and the ones behind him started to crawl up his back to snuggle on his neck. Mk sighed, reaching back to put the baby monkeys back on the ground, the blanket had on now falling off his shoulders.
“I'll be back,” he said to the bunch, “I'm gonna see where the noise came from.” He expected to hear several loud chirps in response but instead, all the baby monkeys started quietly going back to their respective cuddle piles to sleep peacefully. Mk then picked up his blanket off the floor and threw it over his shoulder again, putting on his slippers. Gripping the blanket closer to his body, he opened his front door. Guess I should find the other monkeys, they would have heard the scream. Mk sleepily walked down the mountain dirt path, too tired to summon his staff or cloud to get to them quicker. He arrived at Monkey King's little shack, noticing the lights were on with the door open as he walked up the hill. When he got to the entrance, he saw Macaque sat up on one side of Monkey King's bed, gently petting a sleeping Wukong. Macaque's head peeked up.
“Oh hey kid, forgot you were sleeping over today.” Mk wordlessly walked over to the bed, positioning himself sat in front of Macaque to then lean his head on his chest. Macaque stayed quiet with his only response to MK being wrapping his tail softly around the kid’s waist. The two monkeys sat like that for a while with MK focused on the soft sound of Macaque petting Wukong’s fur. He closed his eyes. “What time is it?” he asked exhaustion creeping into his voice. Macaque continued petting Wukong's head. “It's 11pm.” MK eyes shot open after that response, getting up from Macaque’s grasp. “What? But we only went to bed like an hour ago!” MK took a pause looking at Macaque in confusion. He whipped his head around the room as if he was looking for something. “What was that scream that woke me up then?” Macaque then pointed his tail at Monkey King's sleeping head on his lap. “that would be this guy.”
Mk blinked. “Monkey King has nightmares?” Macaque shifted Wukong in his lap for a second, giving the sleeping monkey a pillow to rest on rather than just Macaque's bare legs. “Everybody has nightmares, kid.” Macaque explains, his fingers going back to Monkey King's head. “Doesn't matter how powerful you are.” Macaque was gentle through the orange monkey's hair, strands of it shedding slightly on the pillow as they fell through his fingers. He sighs not having looked up at the kid the entire time, his eyes focused on Wukong's face. “Though this is more like a night terror considering what the time is.”
Mk snuggled his head closer to Macaque on his chest thinking about his words. “There's a difference?” he asks, thinking about his own sleep problems as his eyes go back from Wukong to being closed shut. He feels Macaque nod, though he doesn't look up. “Depends on when they happen in sleep. Terrors are pretty early while nightmares are close to when you wake up.” Macaque mumbles. Mk notices how tired Macaque looks too at the moment, his ears pinned downward while his eyes watched Wukong. Mk snuggles even closer if that's possible feeling his own fear hot in his chest as he takes in the definition.
“I've had those too then,” Mk admits with his eyes feeling heavy from emotion as well as exhaustion. That makes Macaque look up from Wukong for once, turning his head to look at Mk. “You do?” Mk nods quietly, blinking back tears. Macaque brings his other hand to pet Mk's shoulder softly looking at him with love. Mk feels small at the touch, like a little kid begging for his parent to soothe him after a nightmare. That's what he was really, despite being an adult monkey demon, desperate to be held safe and close. His tail wrapped desperately around Macaque's waist now, Mk didn't even recognize when exactly he changed into his monkey form but he glitched now trying to hold himself together. Macaque softly rested his chin on Mk's head, and his breath felt warm at the touch. “You wanna tell me what they're about?” He asks quietly and Mk sniffles as his form stabilizes, tail plopping back down on the mattress.
“Everything,” Mk admits, pulling his knees up to his chest. “I mean, sometimes it's the scroll, sometimes it's her. Or just. Something really scary. I'm- I'm usually hurt.” Mk's voice cracks on that part and small tears run down his face. “And. And then I wake up.” He hiccups once sniffling and turning his face the other direction, fighting the urge to climb closer to Macaque and sob in his chest like a toddler. He focuses on Wukong below him instead, staring at his peaceful form in sleep ignoring the leftover tears still slipping from his eyes. Macaque shifts a little beside him and Mk feels something warm on his face patting the tears away.
“Sounds scary.” Macaque says and Mk nods, allowing himself this small moment of comfort, the feeling of Macaque's scarf on his cheeks so the breath can come back to his lungs. “What's Wukong scared of?” Mk asks his eyes not leaving the Monkey King's face. “I mean. He's the Monkey King, he can handle everything.” he sniffles. He watches Macaque's hand go back to Wukong's hair as he answers. “What he can't control.” Macaque says, easy and simple. “Losing you, and everyone else he cares about.” Mk nods taking it in, sleep is inevitable now as his eyes drag down into closure relaxed against Macaque's chest. “And you?” Mk asks one more time, wanting, yearning to not be alone in what he feels in this moment. Macaque stiffens beside him, like no one's ever asked him that question before and Mk is sure no one actually has. He leans his head on his shoulder, breathing evening out as he listens for his response. Mk feels Macaque's scarf move back under him, his knuckles softly brushing his cheek as he moves the end of it back behind him. “Same thing kind of.” Macaque sighs his hand now holding mk's other arm in an embrace. “Not being good enough for you guys.” Macaque finishes, rubbing his arm up and down Mk's skin. Mk's ears twitch at the touch, the comfort coming from him leaving him feeling warm and safe for the first time in a long time. He yawns before uttering his last few words, “You're good enough for me mama.” before sheer exhaustion pulls him back into tired sleep.